The life of a Samurai

• The word samurai comes from saburu (to serve). The higher class samurai warriors are always called “bushi.” Most Japanese refer to the samurai as “bushi.”
• Only the samurai could have a last name. Ordinary people did not have a last name.
• Only the samurai were allowed to have a horse or use palanquin.
• Only the samurai could commit seppuku (ritualistic suicide).
• Only the samurai could carry 2 swords.
• During the early Edo period samurai could kill anyone on the street and get away with if a samurai though the person was just being disrespectful.
• Japanese samurai reward for the service was about 200 koku of rice. In other words their annual salary was 200 x 150 kg of rice. The samurai used to get their salary from daimyo as “rice” not in cash.
• Most samurai were able to read and write. They were more educated than the rest of the society.
• The samurai often practiced Tea ceremony, calligraphy, poetry and ink painting. Samurai were the only ones who could access to prestigious zen gardens, elegant temples and castles.
• Since there were not many wars samurai kept improving their techniques by practicing martial arts.
• It was extremely difficult, if not impossible, to become a samurai if one is not born in a samurai family. Toyotomi Hideyoshi was an exception.
• Samurai were named by taking a kanji character from their father’s name and mixing with another kanji character.
• Samurais changed their names after reaching adulthood.
• Samurai often visited temples and zen gardens and practiced Tea ceremony to reduce the stress they had.
• About 10% of the Japanese population were the samurai class and they were the majority who hung out with the geisha and who practiced traditional Japanese arts.
• The marriage of the samurai was usually arranged by a higher ranking samurai and it was difficult to get divorced because that’d mean the higher ranking samurai would lose face.
• Ordinary people wanted their daughters to get married with a samurai and even paid money to the samurai for this upward social class change.
• Some Japanese kamikaze pilots took samurai swords to the cockpit before their final flight.
• Samurai were the only ones allowed to carry two swords in public.
• Samurai were not allowed to own businesses. Samurais were not allowed to do farming.
• If the lord/master of a samurai dies, he loses his social status and rights as a samurai and he becomes a ronin “man of waves.”
• Samurai wives were a little unfortunate, they were forbidden to see their relatives and obey their sons.
• The samurai used to wash themselves with cold water and put incense in their helmets to show that they are ready to die on any day.
• Usually ordinary people kneeled and put their forehead on the floor (dogeza) when a high ranking samurai was passing by. This was not mandatory but very common.